U2 announce 2015 world tour with Boston shows

U2 has announced plans to return the road next year for a world tour in support of their new album, Songs of Innocence. The legendary Irish rockers will launch the “iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE” tour in May with 19 cities included in the initial worldwide itinerary. The band will stop in Boston for a pair of shows at the TD Garden on Friday, July 10 and Saturday, July 11. Tickets for each of the shows, which range in price from $47 to $297.50, will go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. An exclusive priority pre-sale for U2 Fan Club members will take place from tomorrow at 10 a.m. through Saturday at noon.

The upcoming tour will mark U2’s first of indoor arenas in a decade. The band will play a minimum of two shows in each of the cities they will visit. Giving the band’s history in Boston and presumed demand, fans can most likely expect the group to add additional shows to their summertime visit.

“We are going to try to have a completely different feeling from night one to night two,” declared frontman Bono in a press release, “and have some fun playing with the idea of innocence and experience. More to be revealed!”

After tackling stadiums with their groundbreaking “360” tour, which took place from 2009 to 2011 and went on to become the biggest tour in history, U2 had long been expected to return to a more intimate arena tour. An innovative stage show is still expected with a stage that – per released seating charts – lies in the middle and runs nearly the entire the length of the venue. The floor area will be a general admission. According to a report by Billboard, “it is believed that the band will be performing two different shows in each market on consecutive nights, built around the ‘innocence + experience’ theme”. The concept, however, is still being refined. Looking ahead to 2016, a potential return to stadium concerts for U2 in widely rumored.

U2 surprise fans with the release of Songs Of Innocence in September, which was released to over half a billion iTunes Music Store customers worldwide as a gift by Apple. The band’s thirteenth studio album and follow-up to 2009’s No Line on the Horizon was produced by Danger Mouse, with additional production from Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Declan Gaffney and Flood. The album’s lead single “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)” is streaming below. Swedish singer Lykke Li provides guest vocals on “The Troubles”. Fans can also purchase a deluxe version of Songs of Innocence that contains four additional songs, along with several acoustic versions of the record’s songs.

“I hope after listening to our new long player a few times, you’ll understand why it took so long,” Bono said earlier this year in a message to fans on the band’s website. “We really went there… it’s a very, very personal album.” He also teased a potentially quick follow-album, saying, “If you like Songs of Innocence, stay with us for Songs of Experience. It should be ready soon enough… although I know I’ve said that before…”